SkyPirates of the Aether:Curse of the Black Hollow
by Phoenix of the Darkness
Summary: Phoenix dreamed of meeting a sky pirate, but didn't expect to be captured by one! Now Shikamaru must rescue her and break an ancient curse with the help of a former sky pirate captain. But this captain has his own plans for them.
1. Prologue

The sky's the limit. Not only is it the limit, but it's the new frontier. With villages spread few and far between in the country, all trade is done using magnificent airships. And with trade, comes those wishing to take advantage of this, and make their own money off of it. Sky pirates roam in their own airships. Some wish to become infamous, some wish to become rich, but a certain one wishes for but two things. Plenty of sake, and freedom, to sail where the winds may take him through the skies. Savvy?

---

The fog was thick in the sky. It didn't help that the airship was flying quite low, at least in comparison to usual. A voice echoed through the fog, a young girl of nine years, standing up at the bow of the ship. She had brown hair, and green eyes, and had a keyblade belted to her waist.

"Yo ho, yo ho, a sky pirate's life for me. Yo ho, yo ho, it's a sky pirate's life for me. Drink up, me hearties, yo ho, yo ho…"

A man reached for her and grabbed her shoulder. She jumped and spun around. It was Madara Uchiha, the first mate. "Shut it! Sky pirates sail in these skies, do you want to let them know we're here!"

"Uchiha!" Lieutenant Saix approached them. "That will be enough."

"She was singing about Sky Pirates," Madara argued. "That's bad luck, especially in this kind of weather."

"I said, that's enough," Saix said. "Back to your station."

Madara shook his head, and stepped away from the girl. "Bad luck for a girl to be on board, too."

Lt. Saix sighed. "Keep away from him, he is nothing but trouble for a young woman like yourself. And quiet down about the Sky Pirates, Miss Phoenix."

"But what's so bad about Sky Pirates?" Phoenix argued. "It'd be amazing to meet one of them! Like the Sennin Jiraiya of the Southeast skies! Or the Fictor Brothers, nobody's ever been able to beat the three of them together!"

Saix scowled. "Sky Pirates are nothing but a waste of space. I have plans for Sky Pirates that involve a short drop, and sudden stop."

In confusion, Phoenix looked over at Madara. He grabbed a fistful of his collar, tilted his head over, and stuck out his tongue like he was hanging. Her eyes widened in fear.

"Lieutenant! Keep those sorts of tales to yourself, away from my granddaughter." A man in a long orange robe, with a medallion around his neck and an arrow tattooed to his bald head approached them. This was Gyatso--technically Governor Gyatso, but he preferred to forgo titles. He was Phoenix's grandfather, and guardian since the loss of her parents.

"As you wish, sir," Saix said, backing off.

"And Phoenix?" Gyatso said. "Just, behave." As he walked away, Phoenix made a mock-salute, and giggled. She looked back out over the clouds.

"Yo!" shouted out a man working in the rigging. "Guys, there's a ship floating around, doesn't look like anybody's left on it!"

Saix called for the helmsman to bring them to the side of the other airship. Madara grunted. "Looks like Sky Pirates attacked them." To Gyatso he said "What? I'm just saying what we're all thinking!"

Most of the crew--and Phoenix, after asking Gyatso--made their way to the other airship, to check for survivors or any leftover supplies.

Phoenix went along the side, searching for anything that stood out. Somebody coughed, and she looked around for the person. A boy, half unconscious, was laying against the side of the ship. "A boy! There's a boy over here!" She leaned down, and his eyelids flickered open, revealing his brown eyes. "Don't worry, you're safe. My name is Phoenix of the Darkness."

He breathed heavily. "Shikamaru Nara," he replied. Shikamaru's head tilted over, and he was asleep again.

Phoenix noticed a glint of silver, and saw that tucked into the folds of his shirt was a coin of some sort. She pulled the chain from around his neck, and examined it. There was a symbol on it, a warped skull of some sort, that she recognized from one of her books. "You're a sky pirate!" she gasped.

"Miss Phoenix?" Saix queried. "You said there was a boy here?"

She stood up and spun around, the coin hidden behind her back. "His name is Shikamaru Nara. That's all he said."

Saix nodded. "Very well." He turned to a well-built man beside him. "Get the boy back to the airship."

Phoenix returned to the other airship, and went to the other side for a moment. She unclasped her hand from around the coin, and rubbed away the grime. On one side was that skull-like shape, but the other side had a sword on it. Phoenix looked up, and was completely silent as she watched an airship with torn black sails fly slowly into the fog, with its Jolly Roger, a skull with a bloody bullet wound, flapping in the wind.

* * *

_This is my first attempt at a parody, so I went with a movie I loved, Pirates! The Airships in this are like the older styles in the Final Fantasy series, like the ones up to FF V._

_Now, if you want to find out who's playing Jack Sparrow, solve this. Mr. Gibbs is to Jack Sparrow, as Tobi is to who? :P Reviews are appreciated, guys!_


	2. Sky Pirates, Ye Be Warned

**Chapter 2: Sky Pirates, Ye Be Warned**

_Six years later…_

An older Phoenix came awake with a gasp. She breathed heavily. "Just a dream, just a dream," she said. She swung her legs over the side of her bed, and went over to the cabinet, in front of the window.

From a hidden compartment, Phoenix drew out the coin, still on the chain. She undid the clasp, and put it around her neck. She felt it carefully, enchanted by it once again, at least until a knock came at the door.

"Phoenix? Are you awake yet?" Gyatso called.

She quickly grabbed her robe and pulled it on, hiding the coin. "Come in," she said, and he did so, with a maid as well.

"Don't tell me you just got up." She shrugged, and smiled nervously. "It's alright, it's alright. Now then, I have a gift for you." From behind his back, he drew out a white box. Phoenix opened it, and gasped.

"It's amazing!" she said, pulling out the clean white duster. Rather than the black one she usually wore, this one was meant for a special occasion, not going on an airship. There were no pockets in it, but there was a big golden strap around the middle. Phoenix looked up suspiciously. "What's the occasion?"

"Lieutenant Saix is being promoted today," Gyatso explained. "He'll be Commander Saix, now. You know, he is a good man, strong."

"Not to mention, completely insane," Phoenix spat. "He's a sadist. He tortures his prisoners, and enjoys it. Messes with their heads. Did I ever mention I really hate sadists?"

"Only about fifty-three times in the last month," Gyatso muttered. "You're being overly-dramatic. Now then, get into your new clothes. The ceremony is in an hour."

The maid took Phoenix behind the screen in the corner of the room, and assisted her in tying on the strap of the duster.

"How's it coming?" Gyatso asked hopefully.

"Shitty," she replied bluntly.

"Well, it's supposed to be the latest fashion in Zanarkand amongst girls your age."

Phoenix snorted. "The girls in Zanarkand must have learned not to breathe." She gasped as the maid pulled the belt tight.

Gyatso sighed. The doorbell rang. "I'll be right back," he said, and left the room.

_Downstairs…_

Waiting in the entryway of the manor was Shikamaru Nara. He wore a Chunin vest now, and a kunai holster on his waist. Leaning against the wall was a very long box that he had brought with him. He was currently looking at a vase with different decoration on it. He bumped it accidentally, and the vase went toppling to the floor.

"Crud," he muttered, as he shifted the rug to hide the pieces of the broken vase, throwing a few pieces out the door. Just as he stood up, Gyatso came down the stairs.

"Ah, young Shikamaru, it's good to have you here," Gyatso said, bowing to him respectfully, as did Shikamaru.

"Sir, I have your order," Shikamaru said, taking the box and holding it before him. He pulled off the lid, and laid it aside. He pulled away some of the wrapping carefully, revealing a long blue and white claymore.

"It's magnificent," Gyatso said, taking it carefully. "Lieutenant, or rather, Commander Saix will be very appreciative of it."

Shikamaru held out a hand. "May I?" Gyatso handed it to him, and Shikamaru twisted the hand, so that the edges of the claymore sprung out. "Based the weighting off of the Decapitating Carving Knife."

"Zabuza's sword, you mean? Not sure how well Lt. Saix would take it to learn that his claymore held some of the properties of the sword of the Demon of the Hidden Mist," Gyatso said with a chuckle. "Shikamaru, would you care to come to the ceremony this afternoon? I know that Phoenix would love to see you there."

"Sounds troublesome," Shikamaru said. "And besides, my master wants me back soon."

"Shikamaru!" Phoenix came from her room at the top of the steps, and smiled when she saw him. She jumped up and slid down the banister, landing perfectly. "I'm so glad you're here! I had a dream about you last night. The night we first met."

Shikamaru remembered that night very well. "You found me on that ship."

Gyatso coughed. "Of course. Come now, Phoenix, we must be going to the ceremony soon, and Shikamaru needs to be going to the smithy."

Phoenix smiled to the shinobi, who merely nodded. The three of them left the manor, and went their separate ways. Gyatso whispered to Phoenix "Was it absolutely necessary to slide down the banister?" She thought on this for a moment, then nodded. Gyatso sighed. "Let's go."

_Meanwhile, at the docks…_

A man stood on the deck of his, er, ship, looking up at the foreboding fortress. He wore a scarlet cloak and a sword was strapped to his back, but the strangest part of his appearance was a demonic mask he wore.

X Prodigy's hovercraft--a lesser form of the airship, usually used for short distances--puttered over the lake surrounding Fort Unity. He felt his feet get wet, and looked down. His craft--as it could no longer be properly called a hovercraft--was taking on water. "Bloody hell," he muttered, as he grabbed a bucket and started bailing out water as fast as he could.

X groaned as he pulled out a glowing green gem. "Hey, feel like giving me the Devil Arm of Water? Please?" He stuffed away the Life Aura again, and resumed bailing, muttering something about "Gonna die the next time I see him." He looked up, and stopped bailing for a moment as he passed three corpses hanging from a tree branch. A sign by them read "Sky pirates, ye be warned." X bowed to the corpses of fellow Sky Pirates, before continued getting water out.

As he came closer to the dock, he climbed higher and higher on the craft. By the time he stepped off, all that remained to be seen was the antennae. A man on the end of the dock looked up, and raised an eyebrow at X's style of dress.

"Sir, it's five hundred gil to dock your, er, boat," Doctor Eggman said, glancing at the sunken hovercraft. "And I'll need your name and reason for coming to Fort Unity."

X considered this for a moment. "How about seven hundred gil, and we forget the name!" He pulled out the coins. Eggman looked both ways, before taking the gil.

"Thank you Mr. Kurosaki, welcome to Fort Unity," Eggman said, stepping aside. X nodded to him, and walked on by. But not before grabbing a small bag of money on his desk while Eggman's back was turned. He shook it, and was glad to hear the jingle of gil in it. Eggman turned around, and saw him. "What? Thei--!" He didn't finish his sentence, as he was sent tumbling into the water by X.

The Hollow Devil walked away whistling.


	3. Phoenix's Rescue

**Chapter 3: Phoenix's Rescue**

The day was hot and sticky, and Phoenix was cursing to herself as she watched the ceremony. The belt--though it could barely be called a belt, as it was two-and-a-half inches wide--was making it harder to breathe. It didn't help that she had run a lot of the way here, and hadn't taken her inhaler beforehand.

Across the crowd, Saix was down on one knee, and Gyatso took the claymore that Shikamaru had made so beautifully. "Rise now, Commander Saix, and take your sword." Saix stood up, and took the claymore. He smirked.

"Thank you, sir," Saix said. After that, the crowd began to slowly disperse, with a few people staying behind to talk to the others. Phoenix was ready to get out of there, but just as she turned around, somebody laid a hand on her shoulder. She sighed, and turned to face Gyatso.

"Commander Saix would like to speak with you," he said kindly. Phoenix looked up, and saw that Saix was on the ramparts, looking out at the lake and countryside. Phoenix sighed, but she didn't argue with her grandfather. She headed up to join the newly-made commander.

_At the airship port…_

X walked along the walkways in the airship port. They were kept afloat at Lake Unity when not in use. The walkways were closer to boardwalks. He saw a pair of men in blue armor arguing with each other in front of a dock for a very big, likely very good airship. _Those two look like a couple of true geniuses,_ X thought.

He started to walk past them. They both looked up, and quickly rushed in front of X, cutting him off. "This is a private dock," Church said.

"No civil people!" Caboose added.

"Civilians," Church said.

X nodded. "You got it, buddies! If I see any civilians, I'll make sure and tell you!"

"No Hollows, either," Church said.

"That's discrimination," X said indignantly. "Besides, you shouldn't even worry about Hollows. You should be worrying about Sky Pirates, really."

Caboose squealed. "I love sky pirates! I'll have a hamburger and a large fry, please."

There was silence for a moment. "Is he a friend of yours?" X asked Church.

"Hell no," Church said.

"Yep, he's my best friend!" Caboose said.

Church resisted the urge to shot Caboose's head off…again. "Why are you warning us about Sky Pirates? Unless…he is a sky pirate…"

"But if he were a sky pirate, then why would he tell us to watch out for sky pirates?" Caboose asked.

"Unless I specifically told you that I am a sky pirate, going by the logic that all sky pirates lie and thus if I were a sky pirate and I said that I were a sky pirate, then I would logically _not_ be a sky pirate," X said.

Caboose fell to the ground in a dead faint. It was that, or his tiny brain would have exploded from the pressure.

"Aw, fuck," Church said. He shot Caboose in the foot with his pistol. Nothing. He shook his head in amazement, then saw that X was gone. "What, hey, get back here!"

X was on the airship, pulling the wheel back and forth. Church ran up to him and pulled out his rifle--don't even ask where it was. "Get away from that! Son of a bitch, get off the ship!"

X put his hands up. "Calm down, buddy." Caboose ran up, and raised his gun. "Put that down, you'll put an eye out. This ain't even so good. I mean, it can't even compare to the Black Hollow."

Church snorted. "There's no such thing."

"But I've seen it!" Caboose argued.

"So you've seen a ship with black sails, crewed by the damned, and captained by a man so fucked-up that his mother tried to kill him?" Church said sarcastically.

"No, but I've seen a ship with black sails."

"Well if it wasn't crewed by the damned, and captained by a man so fucked-up his mother tried to kill him, then it isn't the Black Hollow," Church said.

Caboose nodded. "Ah, got it!"

_The Ramparts…_

Phoenix was leaning against an archway, trying to catch her breath, as Saix rambled on and on about things that she frankly didn't care about whatsoever.

"…there comes a time in a man's life when he must settle down, you see, and I--well, Phoenix, you're a lovely woman, and you aren't like so many of the others," Saix said. "I guess, I'm trying to ask you this. Phoenix, would you--" He turned around, and cut himself off. "Phoenix?" He swore mentally, and looked down at the lake. His breath caught as he saw Phoenix hit the water.

"Oh dear God, woman overboard! Woman overboard!" Saix called, shrugging off his jacket to leap after her, but a soldier stopped him.

"You could kill yourself on the rocks! It's amazing she survived."

Saix couldn't argue with him, and he called some soldiers to him, and headed down to the docks.

_Meanwhile…_

X, Church, and Caboose heard a splash. They ran to the edge of the airship's deck, and caught a glimpse of Phoenix as she started to sink through the water, weighed down by her duster and boots. X looked at them. "Either of you gonna do something?"

"Yeah, like I'm gonna try to swim in this armor," Church said. X groaned in exasperation.

He pulled Sparda off his back, and threw it to Caboose, followed by his pistols, his other Devil Arms, and his jacket. "Keep track of those, and don't even think about using the sword, buddy." He leapt off the edge of the airship, and into the water. He swam through the water quickly, and dove beneath the surface toward Phoenix.

He grabbed her arms, and started pulling her toward the surface. He swam one-armed toward the dock, and pulled them both on it. Church and Caboose were both there, and looked like they had no clue what to do. Phoenix was unconscious. "What do we do?" Caboose said in alarm.

X didn't reply to him, but instead pulled out a knife, and cut through Phoenix's belt. She immediately started breathing again. "Wouldn't have thought to do that," Church said. X resisted the urge to say something insulting to his intelligence. X suddenly saw the glint of silver, and carefully examined the medallion hanging around Phoenix's neck. At that moment, the clouds above them parted, and hit the medallion. For a second, the skull's grin grew even wider.

"Where'd you get that?" X muttered.

"Who says that's any of your business?" Phoenix replied smartly.

Soldiers ran down the dock, Saix leading them. X stood up, and a soldier helped Phoenix up, and gave her a towel. Saix drew his claymore, and pointed the tip at X's chest.

"Wait, what the heck are you doing?!" Phoenix said in alarm. "He saved my life! Better than any of you idiots managed to do!"

Saix paused, and stabbed his claymore into the dock beside him. He held out a hand to X. "Thank you for saving her," he said. X shook his hand, and Saix pulled up his sleeve. He smirked. "Had a run-in with the Radiant Garden Trading Company, hm?" Branded into X's arm were the letters "S-P." Mark of a sky pirate. Saix pulled his sleeve up a bit more, revealing a tattoo of a demonic face, that of the dark knight Sparda, with a Hollow Mask as well, set next to each other. "The Hollow Devil. X Prodigy?"

"Captain X Prodigy, if you will," X said, grinning beneath his mask. He stopped grinning when he had handcuffs on his wrists. "Ah, hell."

"Ooh, ooh, I have his stuff!" Caboose said, running over to Saix, holding them out.

Saix took them one by one. "Far too many weapons to easily carry."

"Ever heard of hammer-space?" X said.

He grabbed his red jacket. "One disgusting jacket."

"Not to mention comfortable."

Saix pulled a piece of paper from one of the pockets. "A blank piece of parchment." He stuffed it back away. He examined one of X's pistols. "No bullets."

"Demon essence, genius."

He ended with Sparda. "And for a moment, I expected for it to be made of plastic." He threw it back on the pile. "I must say, 'Captain' X Prodigy, you are by far the worst sky pirate I've ever heard of."

"Ah, but you've heard of me," X pointed out.

Saix wasn't impressed. He turned on his heels. "Shoot him down." Soldiers raised their weapons to fire.

"Stop!" Phoenix said, and she spun around to be between X and the soldiers. The latter hesitated. "This guy saved my life! He might be a smart-ass, not to mention he thinks way too much of himself--"

"Get to the point," X said, sounding somewhat bored.

"But I think that he's a noble man!"

X shook his head. "That's where you'd be wrong." X wrapped his hands around her neck, just tight enough to hold her still. "Nobody dare shoot! While I prefer a weapon, I'm certainly strong enough to break her neck!"

Saix glared at him. If looks could kill, X would have been lying on the ground, dead as a doornail. "Release her."

"First my things," X said. With a gesture from Saix, Caboose ran over, and deposited them at his feet, before running away. "If you don't mind," he said to Phoenix. He allowed her to bend down, still keeping his hands around her neck. She picked them up, and he let her turn around. She put his jacket over his shoulder, and pistols into his belt. She offered him Sparda. "Put it in the sheath."

She slid it into the sheath on his back, but had to get very close to him to do so. When it was firmly in there, she muttered "I hate you" and brought her knee up into his manhood. X winced. He released her, and pushed her away from him, before turning and running, trying to ignore the pain.

Soldiers ran after him, and X quickly realized this. He awkwardly drew Sparda, and said "Night Silencer." A beam of dark energy sliced through the dock behind him. He couldn't help but chuckle when a few soldiers fell into the water. A few tried to shoot at him, but all missed, and X ran back into the town without further interruption.

_Smithy…_

For what it was, the smithy was pretty quiet. The blacksmith, an old firebender named Iroh, was deeply asleep. He wouldn't wake up even if a bomb went off. Or if a pistol shot apart the fireplace.

X sheathed Dusk, satisfied. He started looking around for something to get the cuffs off his wrists. Or at least break the chain. He heard a creaking sound, and quickly hid behind a bench.

Shikamaru came into the smithy. He smirked when he saw Iroh. "Exactly where I left you," he said. Then he saw the fireplace. "Holy shit!"

A knife whizzed by his face, and barely missed. X cursed. "Could have taken him out quickly," he said.

Shikamaru saw X, and immediately remembered some of the news in the town. "You're that man with the Hollow mask they said escaped…the sky pirate."

"So you've heard of me," X said graciously.

"Yes…you threatened her." Shikamaru grabbed his trench knives from his belt, and slipped them over his fingers. He fueled them with his chakra, and ran at X. He sliced away with his knives--one of the strikes inadvertently cutting through the chain that held X's handcuffs together.

"Ah, thanks mate," X said, drawing Sparda. "Now then--" A knife cut away a small bit of his hair. X made sure it hadn't touched him. It didn't.

"Next time you won't be so lucky," Shikamaru said, readying himself. When his knives met Sparda, sparks flew. They fought continuously, the shinobi's knives somehow keeping up with the sky pirate's sword.

"How do you keep up like this!" X said, as he ducked and stabbed at Shikamaru's stomach.

Shikamaru slipped back. "I practice with these knives four hours a day!" He made a nick on X's cheek.

"You really need to find yourself a woman," X said with a nod. He made a small slice across Shikamaru's forehead. "And that's why you wear the forehead protector on your forehead. Then again, maybe you do have a woman, but you need to impress her."

"I practice four hours a day so that when I meet a sky pirate, I can kill him!" Shikamaru said, throwing his knives at the door in the front, keeping it shut. He grabbed a hammer, and threw it expertly at X, knocking Sparda out of his hands.

"Once again, you need a girl," X said. He looked up in alarm as he heard somebody pound on the door of the smithy.

"The sky pirate's in here! The Hollow Devil!" Shikamaru called out.

X sighed. "That'd be very good and all, however, there's one problem with your logic. You are now between me and my only exit. And you are unarmed."

"As are you," Shikamaru pointed out. "Sword gone, your guns are somewhere around here."

"Really?" X smirked. He drew out his zanpakuto, shaped like a normal katana. He held it out threateningly. "Out of the way."

"No, I won't let you get away after threatening Phoenix," Shikamaru said, shaking his head.

"The first life this sword takes isn't supposed to be yours," X said insistently. "Move, please." There was a crashing sound, and X fell to the ground, revealing that Iroh had smashed a sake bottle over his head.

Soldiers finally pushed their way into the smithy, Saix leading them. "Thank you very much, sir."

"Just doin' my civic duty," Iroh said, still sounding drunk. Shikamaru rolled his eyes, and walked away, as X Prodigy was taken to the prison.


	4. The Black Hollow

**Chapter 4: The **_**Black Hollow**_

A maid had attempted to help Phoenix into bed…and nearly lost her head in the process. "Leave me in peace!" Phoenix said, and slammed the door. She sighed, and walked over to her bed.

She wouldn't admit it to anybody, but that was exciting beyond belief for her. Maybe a little scary, but something about that guy, Captain X Prodigy, gave her the feeling that he wasn't being totally honest when he said that he wasn't noble.

Phoenix laid down on her bed, and closed her eyes. _Wish I could do something to help him…_

BOOM! Phoenix jolted up in her bed, and ran over to her window. "Oh God," she breathed. Above them, barely seen, was a magnificent airship, firing on Port Unity. "Oh God."

_Prison…_

"Seventy-six bottles of beer on the wall, seventy-six bottles of--" SQEAK!!! X sat up, and glared at the men in the cell beside him. "No matter how many times you squeeze that toy, that dog will never come." He was referring to the dog holding the keys to their cells, that they were trying to attract with a squeaky toy.

"Don't see you trying to do anything," Wandrex said, shaking the toy around while Rook calling to the dog. "Come on, doggy, doggy!" Snoopy looked up for a moment from his typewriter, the ring of keys still in his mouth, before shaking his head, and continuing with his work.

X laughed. "Like I said, he--" He cut himself off. Wandrex and Rook tried to say something to him, but he ignored them. X pulled himself up to one of the windows of his cell. An airship was firing on the town. "I know those cannons anywhere," he muttered. "The Black Hollow."

"Black Hollow? Heard of that," Rook said with a nod. "A ship with--"

"Yes, we know, we know," X said impatiently.

"It destroys any ship it comes across," Wandrex added. "Never leaves survivors."

"No survivors?" X chuckled. "Then where do the stories come from, I wonder?" Rook and Wandrex glanced at each other.

Suddenly, an enormous explosion consumed the jail, blasting a hole in the wall…in Rook and Wandrex's cell. "See ya, sucker!" Rook called to X as he and the Nobody escaped through the hole. X flicked him off, before glancing around.

A few seconds later…SQUEAK!!! "Hey, come on, doggy! Want the toy? Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" Snoopy came over to him slowly. "That's it you mangy, disgusting--" Snoopy backed away, and started to turn away from X "--wait, wait, no, no you stupid, thing!" He threw the toy down, and pouted in the back of his cell.

_Governor's Mansion…_

Phoenix pulled on a robe and ran our of her room, and tried not to scream. Sky pirates in filthy clothes were coming into the mansion, attacking the servants. Two came in, a man and a woman in black robes, and the man, Renji Aburai, spotted Phoenix. "Up there, Rukia!"

"Oh crap," Phoenix said. She summoned her keyblade, and sliced through a cord holding a chandelier up. It fell down, down, down, right onto Renji and Rukia's heads. She ran back to her room, accidentally running into a maid in the process. She apologized as she shut the door and locked it.

"Miss Phoenix, you have to hide! It's you they want! You're the governor's granddaughter," the maid said pleadingly.

A pounding came at the door. "Come out, we know you're in there!" Renji taunted.

Phoenix pushed the maid beneath her bed, and ran into another room just as Rukia blasted the door open. Phoenix looked around quickly, and hid in a wardrobe, leaving it open just enough to see what was happening.

Rukia and Renji came creeping into the room. "We know you're there. Come on out." Faster than Phoenix could track, Renji came over to the wardrobe, opened the door, and pointed the tip of his Zanpakuto at her throat.

"Barley!" Phoenix spat our, and internally cursed.

Renji raised an eyebrow. "You mean, parley?"

"Exactly! Parley, you can't hurt me and have to take me to your captain," Phoenix said. "Sky Pirate Code."

"You had to correct her?" Rukia asked sarcastically. "Fine." She moved her arms, and Phoenix's arms were locked behind her back with Kido. "That won't hurt you, just keep you still."

"I hate loopholes," Phoenix muttered, as they led her back to their ship.

_In the town…_

Shikamaru struck down another one of the sky pirates…for the third time. It's like they were immortal, or something, he couldn't destroy them even when he got one in the head. "This, is, troublesome!" he grunted, punctuating his words with strikes. Unbeknownst to him, a sky pirate came running up behind him, and hit him with a club to the head. He spun and dropped to the ground, unconscious.

_Prison…again…_

X twiddled his thumbs, and looked up as there was a clanging. Men were running into the prison, two of them, both sky pirates. One of them, an ogre named Shrek, did a double-take when he saw X. "`ey, would you look at this, it's old X."

X sighed, and stood up. "Shrek, you're just as disgusting as ever." He recoiled when he came closer to Shrek, but the ogre had already grabbed him around the neck from between the bars. From the window of the cell, the moonlight came shining through, onto Shrek's hand. It became skeletal, bits of flesh hanging off. "Oh. That's interesting."

"Release, Shrek," Kakashi said, as he read Icha Icha tactics. Shrek let go of X.

"We'll let you rot here, then," Shrek said with a laugh. After making sure there were no other prisoners, he and Kakashi left the prison.

X was examining himself in the moonlight. "That was very interesting."

* * *

_I know, this chapter was a little short, but better than nothing, right? Besides, next chapter is probably going to be up a bit quicker. We'll be seeing the entrance of the new Captain of the Black Hollow, and everybody loves him. Reviews are appreciated, everybody!_


	5. Captain Nukid

**Chapter 5: Captain Nukid**

Phoenix was taken to the airship, the _Black Hollow_ itself. She saw the Jolly Roger. A skull with a bullet hole in the head. Sky Pirates worked the deck. Rukia said "Captain, this girl invoked the right of parley."

"Bloody hell, stupid pirate code," said a voice from above them on the rigging. "Geppou." Somebody jumped down, and landed smoothly on the deck. He looked like he could only be a few years older than Phoenix, but carried himself like he was ten years her elder. He had messy blonde hair, and blue eyes. He didn't carry a sword, and likely didn't need it. "Now who are you?" Nukid asked.

"Phoenix," she said. "I'm a servant in the Governor's Mansion."

Nukid raised an eyebrow at her name, but didn't say anything about it. "And why are you here, then?"

Phoenix took a deep breath. "I'm here to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Unity."

Nukid chuckled. "Sorry, but I didn't understand a word you just said."

"I want you to leave, and never come back."

"Well then," Nukid said with a shrug. "I'm disinclined to acquiesce your request. Means 'When hell freezes over.'"

"Fine then," Phoenix said, and drew the sky pirate medallion from around her neck, and went to the side of the sky ship. "I'll drop it. It's what you're looking for right? I saw this ship, that jolly roger, six years ago!" When none of them reacted, Phoenix said "Fine." The coin dropped a bit, and Nukid lunged for it, but a piece of the chain remained in her hand. "So you do want it?" She pulled it back, and kept hold of the medallion.

Nukid looked mildly impressed. "You have a family name?"

Phoenix hesitated. "Nara. I'm Phoenix Nara."

"Now that's something to remember," Nukid said, very interested. "Hoist the sails! Raise the colors! Batten down the hatches!" The crew immediately went to work to get the airship ready to fly again.

"Wait, you have to take me back! The Sky Pirate Code says that--"

Nukid turned back to Phoenix. "Look. First, you never mentioned going back there. Second, the code's more like a set of guidelines. And third, I really don't care. Welcome to the Black Hollow, Miss Nara." He turned on his heels, and started to walk away, but Phoenix stopped him.

"Hey, I'm not finished with you!"

Nukid came to a stop, and sighed. "Bloody hell. Do you know why that skull has a bullet hole in the Jolly Roger?" Phoenix didn't answer. Nukid held up one hand. "Shigan." He pushed a finger into the mast at high speed, and left a hole similar to a bullet. "Cross me, and I doubt you'll live to regret it."

Renji clapped her on the shoulder. "Welcome to the Black Hollow!"

_Prison…_

"Take one down, pass it around, one bottle of beer on the wall," X sang, and sighed. "One bottle of beer on the wall, one bottle of beer, you take one down, pass it around, no bottles of beer on the wall." He groaned.

"I swear, if you go into negatives I'm going to murder you." X looked up, and raised an eyebrow. Shikamaru stood on the other side of the bars.

"You look familiar, have I threatened you?"

"Are you drunk? Or are you usually this stupid?" Shikamaru shook his head. "You're a sky pirate, we both know that. Do you know where that airship went, that attacked the town?"

"You mean the Black Hollow?" X inquired. Shikamaru nodded. "Well, that airship only stops in one particular place, a cave that can only be found by those who know where it is." He smiled cockily. "Why are you so interested?"

"They took Phoenix," Shikamaru said through gritted teeth. "Where is that cave!"

"Phoenix, Phoenix, you mean the girl? Brown hair, green eyes, head shorter than you, likes to solve her problems by kicking people?" X said. "Why should I tell you how to find her?"

Shikamaru looked at the cell door. "Because I'll let you out, you help me, and you don't hang?"

"You don't have the key, and the dog won't hand it over," X countered.

"I don't need a key." Shikamaru made hand seals, and his shadow leaped up in tendrils, and grabbed the bars of the cell. In a few moments, the door was ripped from its hinges. Shikamaru held his hand out. "Do we have a deal?"

X considered this for a moment, then jumped up. He shook Shikamaru's hand. "Sounds better than some of the deals I've made."

"Good, and we'd better get going, somebody will have heard that," Shikamaru said, and ran out. X followed after him after grabbing his weaponry.

"That is considering that there's anybody left!"

_The Airship Port…_

"Okay, X--"

"Captain X!"

"Whatever. How do you plan to get past that?" Soldiers marched along the docks, it would be impossible to sneak past them.

"I always have a plan," X assured him. Shikamaru shook his head, and counted the soldiers from their hiding place. "Might be able to use my Jutsus to control one, and have him take out the others…yeah…" He was already forming a plan in his head, one that would probably work well, when--

"Devil Trigger!" There was a burst of darkness from behind the shinobi, and somebody grabbed him by the arm. He was lifted off the ground, over the soldiers who looked up in fear and wonder…but mostly fear.

Shikamaru looked up, and swore. "What the hell!"

"Shut up, it worked, didn't it?" X said in his Sparda Devil Trigger. He swooped through the air, and dropped Shikamaru down on the deck of a big airship hovering a few feet over the surface of the water and a hundred feet out. On the side of it was written "Invincible."

X came down on the deck, and grinned at the soldiers who were aboard, all holding guns, but shaking in their boots. "Boo."

The soldiers went running off the side of the airship. X chuckled, and transformed back to normal. "Oi, get down here!"

"How do you plan to get an airship going with two people!" Shikamaru exclaimed from the top deck.

"I don't!"

"He's insane," Shikamaru said, and slapped his forehead.

Back at the docks, the soldiers, led by Saix, were getting the Highwind airship ready to go. The came aboard, and cast off from the dock. "Idiots, thinking they could actually get going that way," Saix said with a smirk.

Coming up beside the Invincible, they laid gangplanks and went across to search out X and Shikamaru…while the sky pirate and shinobi went across to the Highwind. X immediately went to the controls, and the airship started to ascend.. He couldn't resist calling out "Hey, thanks for the airship! Swear on my honor I'll bring it back! So that'll be…never!" He laughed.

Next to Saix, a soldier said "That may be the best sky pirate I've ever heard of." Saix glared at him, and drew his claymore.

On the Highwind, Shikamaru shook his head. "I've put my life in the hands of a lunatic."

"Oh, don't even bring him up!"


	6. Your Father's a Pirate

_Disclaimer: I own nothing._

**Chapter 6: Your Father's a Pirate**

_The Highwind…_

X had Shikamaru running around like a dog, getting things done on the airship. "Why aren't you doing anything?" Shikamaru grunted, as he tugged on a rope.

"I am doing something! I'm supervising." X grinned. He was steering the ship with his feet. "By the way, Shikamaru, that first part of your name, does it go down through your family?"

"Yeah," the shinobi said. "From my father. His name was Shikaku."

"Really?" X chuckled. "I knew a Shikaku Nara once. One of the best damn sky pirates I ever knew. Shadow-Hands Nara, they called him."

Shikamaru stopped what he was doing. "What?" He stormed up the steps. "My father wasn't a sky pirate."

"What was he, then? Let me guess, a merchant? Why'd he send you away to Port Unity, then? It was better?" X shook his head. "Nah. I knew that he had a kid. He said, that he sent the kid away, so you wouldn't get in trouble, son of a sky pirate, and all that."

Shikamaru drew out a kunai. "Listen you, shut up about my father or--" X sighed, and twisted the steering wheel. Part of the mast swung out, and caught Shikamaru around his middle, swinging him out over the edge of the airship. He clung onto the mast tightly.

"You see? We've all got choices to make," X said. "Either you can accept that your father was a sky pirate, or you don't have to. Your choice, but you have to think of the consequences. For example, I could let you back onto the ship, or I could let you drop to the ground. While you'd make the grass down there turn a lovely shade of red, I can't get this airship all the way to Amegakure on my own. So--" X spun the wheel the other way, and Shikamaru was able to drop back down to the deck.

Shikamaru made a sound of disgust. "So, Amegakure?"

"Course. We're going to need a crew, aren't we? Besides, if I'm stuck with only you for much longer I'm going to get lung cancer." Shikamaru slipped the cigarettes back into his pocket.

_The Black Hollow…_

Phoenix was in a room of the Black Hollow on her own. This 'Captain' Nukid had been at least a little hospitable. He really wanted that medallion. She was somewhat surprised that he hadn't just killed her yet, and taken it.

There was a knocking on the door. Renji came in, carrying a clean, white duster. "Captain said that you're supposed to eat with him, and wear this."

"Tell your captain I'll eat raw fish before I dine with him," Phoenix said.

"He figured you would say that," Renji said. "He also said that if you said that, then it's either you eat with him, wearing this, or eat with the crew, naked." He smiled a little pervy smile. Phoenix snatched the duster away from him. Renji looked mildly disappointed, and Phoenix slapped him across the face.

Twenty minutes later, Phoenix sat in the captain's quarters. Food was laid out on the table. She had tried to convince herself that she wouldn't eat, but her head did not prevail over her stomach this time. At the very least, she was eating slowly.

"Tea?" Nukid offered. Phoenix shook her head, and pushed her plate away. As she pulled her hand back, she slipped a knife onto her lap. For a moment, when Nukid's expression changed, she was afraid he had seen it, but he wasn't looking at her hands. He was still fixated on the medallion around her neck. She covered it with her hand, and he snapped out of his trance.

"Miss Nara--"

"Phoenix."

Nukid smiled. "Phoenix. I don't suppose you've heard of Gol D. Roger, have you?" When she didn't respond, Nukid continued. "He's considered the greatest sky pirate to have ever lived. He conquered even the greatest of men. But his greatest achievement is usually considered to be his destruction of the Vongola mafia family. There are few members left even today. But Roger, he killed the vast majority, and took all treasures they held."

"Okay, so he's a mass murderer, so what?"

"Bloody hell." Nukid stood up, shaking his head. As he spoke, he walked closer to Phoenix. "So, some of the few remaining Volgola gave Roger a chest, filled with 666 identical gold coins. This Volgolan Gold was made in such a way so that whoever takes a single piece from the chest will be cursed with a fate worse than death." As Nukid came closer, Phoenix stood herself, and backed away from him. "You have one of those pieces around your neck. Tell me, do you believe in ghost stories?"

"No. Ghosts don't exist." Phoenix pulled the knife out, and drove it into Nukid's chest. He didn't even flinch. He just fingered the handle, before pulling it out. From one of the windows, moonlight shone in. Nukid's body turned skeletal, his clothes ragged, one of his eyes missing from his socket, and the other half-decayed. Flesh hung from his bones, and his teeth clicked together when he spoke.

"The moon shows us for what we really are. We took the coins, and spent it all on stupid things. But after some time, we found that the drink no longer satisfied. Food turned into ashes in our mouths." Nukid ran one bony hand over Phoenix's cheek. She was frozen in fear. "It's been too long since I felt the wind on my face, the rain on my skin, the warmth of another living being." Nukid pulled away from her, back into the darkness of the room. "You'd better start believing in ghost stories, because you're in one."

* * *

_A/N: For those of you who haven't seen it, the Vongola family is from Katekyo Hitman Reborn, though they're far from destroyed._


	7. Amegakure

**Chapter 7: Amegakure**

"This is Amegakure?"

"Yep!" X replied cheerily. It was completely chaos, men running after women, women running after men, and at least one person had proposed drunkenly to Shikamaru thus far. "I know what you mean, took me by surprise first time I came here. But let me tell you this: If every town in this world were like this one here, no man would ever feel unwanted."

A girl came up to X. He grinned. "May, it's been too long!" She slid his mask up his face a little, and slapped him hard. "I think I deserved that."

"You retconned my entire existence so you could go out with some whore!" she exclaimed, before storming off.

X rubbed his cheek, though that was a little bit useless, as an older woman came up to him. "Tia!" She pulled his mask up and slapped him as well, before storming away without a word. "Think I deserved that one too."

_Two buckets of ice water later…_

Sleeping in a hammock was a man wearing a cloak, and an orange, swirling mask. X hefted his bucket off water off the ground, and pitched its contents at the man. He went tumbling out of the hammock, and landed flat on the ground, sputtering curses. He spoke with a gruff voice at first. "Don't you know you're supposed to let a sleeping man--" He looked up, and immediately, he perked up. His voice turned higher. "Senpai, it's good to see you again!"

Shikamaru was watching this in mild interest. X said, "Tobi, this is Shikamaru Nara. We're headed after my ship. The Black Hollow."

"Again? How many times now, five?"

"Tobi…okay…" Shikamaru shook his head in wonder.

"That's beside the point. We need a crew," X said.

Tobi saluted quickly. "Give me five minutes! And I'll have the best crew you could ask fo--" Shikamaru picked up his bucket, and pitched the contents at Tobi. "I'm awake already!"

"That was so you would shut up."

_Five and a half minutes later…_

At the airship port, there were ten people lined up next to the _Highwind_. "These are the best sky pirates in all of Ame?" X shuddered. He walked up to one, a young man with bright purple hair, spiked up, with a bat of some sort sitting on top of his head. "Excuse me, you with the weird hair."

"Ross!" Tobi called out.

"Ross, then. Are you willing to possibly lose your life in the open air?" X asked him. Ross remained silent.

"He doesn't like to talk," the bat, called Kivat, said. "Uh…yeah, maybe."

"He says yes," Tobi translated.

X blinked. _What have I gotten myself into…_He moved to the next person in line, what appeared to be a young man, his hair tucked under a hat. "Don't I know you?" He--make that she--looked up. "Dawn!" She slapped him harder than both Spider-Girl and Tia Harribel had(1).

"I think you deserved that," Shikamaru commented.

"No, no, that one, I don't think I deserved that one," X said. "What did I do to you?"

"You know what you did, you stabbed Jiro, stole the _New Moon_, and spread pictures of me in a maid's dress all over the internet!" Dawn punched him in the jaw.

"That wasn't my fault! …Jiro attacked me first."

"You tried hitting on me."

"Hey, hey!" Shikamaru came between the two of them. While he didn't really care much about them, the longer they took, the less likely it was that they would get to Phoenix. "Tell you what…Dawn. He'll apologize, and get you a new airship. A better airship!"

X nodded quickly. "Yep, a new, better airship. Shikamaru pointed at the _Highwind_. "That one."

"Eh?"

Dawn considered this for a moment, before stepping back. "Fine then."

X clapped his hands together. "Alright, then. All aboard, or be left behind without anything except the clothes on your backs."

As the crew clambered onto the deck of the airship, Shikamaru spoke to X. "How are we going to catch the _Black Hollow_? Where does it make port?"

"It stops in only one place. A gap in the earth, the Great Divide, a location that can only be found by those who already know where it is," X replied.

"You know where it is, then?"

"Nope!" X was sent rocketing back by a powerful punch. Shikamaru cracked his knuckles. "Hey, I never said I couldn't get us there! Just get to your place, and let me handle it. After all, if it's not me, then your girlfriend's dead. Savvy?"

X proceeded to the wheel, and from one of his pockets, he pulled out a piece of parchment. It looked like just a blank piece. Under his breath, he muttered "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Marks began to spread across the piece, with writing on it showing "Messrs. Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs Proudly Present the Marauder's Map." X unfolded it, showing a map of the entire country, until the very edge of the map. He smiled. "Good thing this wasn't taken." He looked up. "Hey, hurry it up, we've got business to take care of! Tobi, get away from Hiei!"

* * *

_(1) What? No, why would you think I wrote this just so I could hurt X a lot? That's the strangest suggestion I've ever heard of._


End file.
